This weekend we celebrated our daughters 2nd birthday. It was a weekend was full of emotions as friends kids graduated school, and we watched videos of our kids as babies. They have grown so fast over the years. I can say with 100% certainty that time does fly by. Once I was up at 2am cradling my little ones in the first weeks of their lives, and now I jump to attention as they yell out, "more water!!!, more snacks!!!”

Following the rules is something that I cannot pinpoint the age I learned to do. But as a parent I would love to know the answer. Our little one is at the age of questioning "why" This isn't to say that it's a bad thing but in some instances it can feel as if he is questioning our authority. Not taking this to heart every time it comes up we do like to set some rules that have no reason other than they are rules. One example is no toys on the table. This is something that really has no reason other than its a rule that we put in place for the kids to follow. We have to pick our battles though as they do like to test the world they are experiencing. As parents do you put rules in place for the sake of having rules or do you feel less is more. We don't lean towards micro managing our children. It would be too much I feel for us to have to keep up on a long list of things that are ok and not ok. However I feel that something simple like no toys on a table or maybe no shoes in the house (we allow shoes in the house) as an example can be a simple way of introducing them to rules. Im curious though. What rules if any do you have in place for your little one(s)?

We are no stranger to the ER in this house. Today was no exception. When I got in from work my wife told me not to be alarmed, and to ask my son what happened. Already thinking what could it have been I asked my son. He said, "Nothing." To that I asked again well how was your day? Did anything interesting happen? "Meh." he replied. So my wife then informed me that he had taken a small pice of string and put it up his nose. Now we would have brushed it off and figured it would pass but out curious minds led us to the internet where we were flooded with all of the what ifs. So my wife called the nurse line and shortly after she and our son were on their way to the hospital. The dr wasn't too worried and just told us to monitor him and his breathing. Should things change we will head on back. Spoiler alert things are fine and our son had no further issues with the inhaled string. In todays podcast I'd like to talk about re-homing adopted children and Myka Sauffer. This woman went through the adoption process and after some time had passed she and her husband decided that it would be in the best interest of the child to find them a new “Forever Family”

My wife and I always talk about the hypotheticals in life. What would happen if we did this, would you feel this way if something like that happened? The questions go on. I was wondering who our kids would grow up to be? The world is full of so many options for them and I am excited at the thought because I have not even the slightest guess at this time. Im sure as the years go by I will have a general feel for who they will develop into as young adults. However at this time they are still so young and the future is still off in the distant horizon. My wife and I hope to be in a position to help with whatever their endeavors are as they come to find them.

Its finals week in this course and the kids are just as amped as ever. My wife tried to take a test while they were both preoccupied but as soon as the timer started its as if their spider sense tingled and they knew mom wasn't paying attention to them. We also recently took some time this week to take the kids out for a nice little drive. It has been a long time since out daughter was out of the house. Thought we didn't get out of the car it was nice to at least get out of the house. Not much in our area looks to have changed but we did notice some new homes going up in some places.

Taking a look back in the archives with todays podcast. In October of last year I had got to pick up my son from school. It was there that his teacher informed me that he had made an attempt to cut another kids hair. Now this could have very well been the early signs of what may be his calling. However I can’t condone the practicing of cutting hair on a random classmate. Adults leaning the craft spend long hours training for their license to practice the art of cutting hair in a professional setting. They then go on for years to hone their craft. Am I to think that my son with a pair of safety scissors and no formal training would have been capable of providing this little one with the cleanest cut he will probably ever receive? No. So when we got home I fired up the recorder and figured I’d ask about his day. I wanted to see what he would share. Spoiler warning it wasn’t much lol. But please enjoy this snippet of some father son time talking on the microphones.

Sometimes it feels like it’s in one ear, and out the other when talking to the kids. Parenting is never advertised as being an easy job. Anyone who says they had a laid back experience is either part of the exception group or blocked out the challenging times. On today’s podcast I share one of the challenges we are experiencing. Also I share an approach I am currently trying to implement. Parenting doesn’t come with any instructions. There are so many ways we can try to improve and if my experience helps you than I’m glad to have added to the parenting pot. If you guys have any book recommendations, suggestions, or stories leave a comment. It might be something someone including myself has yet to try. Also if your watching this on YouTube please forgive the trailing audio. It syncs up later and is something I’m am still working on fixing when live-streaming.

Online apps have made things like online shopping a breeze as well as added some much need convenience. However in light of the new way of life we are all living while sheltering in place things like ordering food via app have become a real game changer. I am a sit in drive through wait in line kinda guy but a co-worker of mine introduced me to ordering chipotle via the app and after that i’ve been sold on this new no line waiting lifestyle. Recently with the number of cases rising in the country my wife and I looked to what we could further do to lessen out contact with the public. Grocery shopping is still something we all need to do and so we looked into using the app instacart to facilitate our grocery shopping needs. In this episode I share my thought about using the app as well as provide some further context to what ultimately led us to make this decision. As always thank you guys for listening and stay safe.

Sheltering in place has definitely increased our time seeking out other forms of entertainment to pass the time. One has been an increase in the content we have been streaming online. With streaming services like YouTube, Disney+, Hulu, and Amazon Prime taking the top spots in our home. Renting movies has also increased. We have almost constantly rented one movie per weekend. Maybe this is in part to the fact that we can't go out and see a movie in the theaters or maybe it's that the kids have become tired of some of the shows they have been watching. What have you guys been streaming. Any good movie or show recommendations? Leave a comment I am always on the lookout for a new series or movie.

Today on the podcast Chris stops by to share a little on his time taking the pre birthing course. This is offered at the hospital that his wife and he will bye delivering their son. For the longest time I was always under the impression that it was called lamaze but as Chris explains so delicately I was 100% wrong. Also covered in the podcast is time travel, betting on sports, computer coding, and my son who was also with us injures his finger while playing in the background. Enjoy.